Slider switch



United rates SLIDER SWITCH John M. Pistey, Fairfield, and Paul F. Strubel, Milford,

Cnn., assignors to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application January 31, 1957, Serial No. 637,419

9 Claims. (Cl. 200-153) The present invention pertains to an electrical switch and particularly one with a sliding actuator for making and breaking the circuits through the switch.

This invention includes the features of supporting and guiding an insulating slider plate in the switch housing so that the switch will be reliable and withstand severe abuse. This invention also includes a torsion spring arrangement cooperating with the slider member so that the member will have the necessary detent action as well as a momentary contact action.

The principal object of this invention is to provide an electrical switch with a novel manually operated slider for controlling the movable contacts of the switch.

A further object of this invention is to provide a slider switch with suitable supporting and guiding members in the switch housing for cooperation with a movable slider.

A further object of this invention is to provide a slider switch of the class described with a suitable guide mem her for a manually operated rod of the slider so that the rod can not be forced inwardly of the switch housing.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide one or more torsion springs which operate against the side edges of the slider of the switch to give the switch both the necessary detent action as well as a momentary contact action.

Our invention concerns a slider switch where portions of the terminal ends of the fixed and movable contacts are used toguide the insulated slider in its to and fro movement. Furthermore, a torsion spring is used to cooperate with the longitudinal edge of the slider to provide a suitable detent action of the on and oii positions of the switch. A clip member is mounted on a rod of the slider to prevent the rod from being forced into the housing to disrupt the action of the switch.

Our invention will be better understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.

Fig. 1 is a back elevational view of a slider switch embodying our invention showing the removable cover member in place.

Fig. 2 is a right-end elevational view of the switch of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to that of Fig. l with the cover plate removed, showing the switch in its oil position.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to that of Fig. 3 showing the slider moved to the extreme left and the switch in the on position.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to that of Fig. 3 showing the slider in its extreme right-hand position and the switch in its momentary contact position.

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 6--6 of Fig. 2.

Referring in detail to the drawing and in particular to Fig. 2, the switch housing 10 is formed of two parts namely, a sheet metal base 11 of generally channel shape with an open back that is closed by a removable cover plate12 of thin insulating material. Most of the switch 2,868,936 Patented Jan. 13, 1959 ice structure is arranged in the base 11 close to the cover 12. However, mounting screws are to extend through the front face of the body 11 although they must not interfere with the movement of the internal switch mechanism. Accordingly, the base 11 is enlarged, as at 13, into a deep channel portion so that mounting screws (not shown) may be threaded into the tapped openings 14.

Turning now to a consideration of Fig. 3, there is shown a back view of the switch base 11 with the cover plate 12 removed. First, it should be understood that the cover 12 is fastened to the base by a series of tabs 15 that extend from the base through openings in the four corners of the cover and are swaged to prevent the removal of the cover. See Fig. l. The principal element of this switch is a slider plate 16 of insulating ma terial that moves in a plane that is parallel to the back cover 12. An elongated slot (not shown) is formed in the top wall 17 of the base 11 and it is of a suitable length to permit the back and forth movement of the slider as shown in its two extreme positions of Figs. 4 and 5. The slider 16 is provided with a rod 18 of thin strip material that extends outwardly through this slot in the wall 17 to be operated manually. This rod 18 is connected to the slider 16 by means of a rivet 1?. Means must be provided to prevent the rod 18 from being forced into the switch housing, especially when assembling a decorative handle (not shown) to the rod. This is accomplished by providing extensions 26 on either side of the rod so that a clip member 21 may be slid between the extensions 2t and the wall 17 by straddling the rod. Looking at Figure 2 of the drawing, it should be clear that the clip 21 is slid from the left under the shoulders 20, and the clip is held in place by the cover plate 12. This clip 21 also prevents the tilting of the rod 18 as the rod is being pushed back and forth to operate the switch. The slider 16 does not lie in the same plane as the slot of the wall 17 so that the edge 22 of the slider serves to stabilize and guide the slider during its movement.

The attached drawing illustrates a switch having two fixed contacts 25 and two movable contacts 26. Each of these contacts has a terminal end 27 and 28 respectively that extends through and is supported by the cover 12, as is best seen in Fig. 6. These terminals 27 and 28 are formed as male tabs for making engagement with standard clip-on connectors (not shown) of well-known construction. The movable contacts 26 operate as cantilever springs with an intermediate bowed or camming section 29 that cooperates with the back surface of the slider 16, as shown in Fig. 6. These movable contacts 26 are normally biased into engagement with the fixed contacts 25. However, when the slider 16 overlies the bowed portions 29 of the movable contacts, such contacts are forced away from the fixed contacts and the circuits are broken. in the o position of the switch, shown in Fig. 3, the slider is in a central position overlying both of the movable contacts 26.

In Fig. 4, the slider has been moved to the extreme left-hand position and it should be noticed that the slider no longer overlies the right-hand movable contact 26 so that it is permitted to engage the related fixed contact 25 and the switch is in the on position. Fig. 5 shows the reverse operation with the slider 16 in the extreme right-hand position and moved out of engagement with the left-hand movable contact 26. As seen in Fig. 2, the slider 16 is guided in its reciprocating movement by the inner ends of the terminals 27 and 28 of the movable and fixed contacts which engage the slider along one side face and force it to move only in its plane. The opposite side of the slider 16 is engaged by a lanced projection 38, as seen in Fig. 6, which is struck out of the material of the base 11. It will then be understood that the slider 16 is confined by several elements of the switch so that it aseaeao will move only in its plane, and that it will not tilt, wobble, or move inwardly of the switch housing to render the switch mechanism inoperative.

The-on-ofi action of this switch must be provided with a suitable detent mechanism otherwise the slider might stop in a position that would hold the movable contacts partly open and partly closed so that the current would tend to are across the air gap between the contacts and burn themout, or at least overheat them to a point of permanent damage. Looking at Fig. 3, the edge 3-1 of the slider 16 that is opposite the straight edge 22 is provided with a series of cam surfaces 32 for cooperation with a torsion spring 33 that'is mounted on a fastener 34 and held down by the cover 12. One arm of the spring 33 is fixed as at 35 against the inner surface of the bottom wall 36 of the base 11. The opposite arm of the torsion spring has a perpendicular leg with a rounded tip 39. The function of the leg 38 is to exert pressure against the cam surfaces 32 of the slider. The tip 39' of the torsion spring is rounded because it is adjacent the cover 12 which is of soft insulating material, and the end of the spring arm would tend to dig into the cover if it were sharp. The cam surfaces 32 of the slider to are generally in the shape of the letter W with a steepcentral point or apex as and relatively shallow valleys ll at each As stated before, Fig. 3 shows the switch in its side. normal oif position. To operate the switch to the on position of Fig. 4, the rod 18 is pushed to the left. As the slider 16 moves to the left, the leg of the movable arm of the torsion spring 33 will ride along the cam surface 32 toward the central point 4-12 and in so doing will resist the movement of the slider to. Once the leg reaches the point 40 and tends to ride down the opposite side, the force built up in the torsion spring will be released to shift the slider 16 quickly to the left until it comes to rest in the position as shown in Fig. 4. Of course, as the opposite motion is given to the slider 15, the torsion spring 33 will act in a similar manner since the cam surface 32 is symmetrical and generally in the shape of the letter W. It should be noted that the switch is so designed that the contacts will neither open nor close until the leg 38 of the torsion spring passes the central point 40 of the cam surface 32,. In other words, the slider must be quickly moving to one of its final resting positions before it moves away from the bowed sections 29 of the movable contacts 26 to make or break the circuits.

A second torsion spring id is arranged near the righthand end of the base Ill on a fastener 4-5 that extends through the cover member 12 and is attached to the base 11 in a manner similar to the fastener 34- previously mentioned. This spring likewise has a fixed arm d? and a movable arm 48 that is normally biased against a stop member 4-9, shown in Fig. 4. This stop 49 is lanced out of the material of the base 11 and lies in the same as the projection 3%. In the normally off position of Fig. 3,. the movable arm 43 of the torsion spring 45 is barely in engagement with the side edge fill of the slider. As the slider 16 of Fig. 3 is moved to the right, it will naturally wind-up the torsion spring 4-5 until the slider reaches its extreme right-hand position that is determined by the end of the slot in the wall 1! to which the rod 15 extends. Once the hand is removed from the rod 18, the potential energy stored up in the spring 45 will be re leased and the slider will return to its normal off position shown in Fig. 3. However, in the meantime, several other events were taking place namely, the slider moved away from the lefthand movable contact 26 and permitted it to engage the fixed contact Also, the leg 33 of the torsion spring 33 moved along the slightly inclinedsurface 5'1 that is an extension of the W-shaped cam surface 32 previously mentioned. See Fig. 5. This torsion spring 33 also cooperates with the torsion spring 45 to assist in the momentary contact action of the switch.

Having described above our invention of a novel slider switch, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in this art that other modifications may be made such as eliminating the momentary contact feature and providing merely an onoff switch. Alternately, the switch might be simply a momentary contact action switch. Another possibility is to eliminate one of the torsion springs namely, torsion spring 33, and form the fixed arm 47 of the torsion spring 45 so that it makes engagement with the JV-shaped cam surface 32. Hence, the single spring performs the dual function of a detent action spring and the momentary contact action spring.

Modifications of this invention will occur to those skilled in this art, and it is to be understood, therefore, that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed but that it is intended to cover all modifications which are within the true spirit and scope of this invention.

What we claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A slider switch comprising a housing, an elongated slot in a first wall of the housing, an insulating slider located in the housing, a rod connected to an edge of the slider and extending outwardly through the slot to be manually operated, movable and fixed contacts supported in the housing, each contact having a wire terminal that extends through and is supported in a second wall of the housing for making connections in an electrical circuit, said second wall extending perpendicularly to said first wall, the innermost portions of the contact terminals hearing against a side face of the slider to guide the slider in its movement as it operates upon the movable switch contacts, at least one of the movable contacts comprising a cantilever spring blade with a camming section that is adapted to be engaged and disengaged by the said side face of the slider.

A slider switch as recited in claim 1 wherein the housing is provided with at least one inner projection that bears against the opposite side face of the slider so that the slider is guided for reciprocating movement by the rod moving in the elongated slot, the contact termi nals bearing against one side face of the slider and the said inner projection bearing against the opposite side face.

3. A slider switch as recited in claim 2 wherein the rod of the insulating slider is provided with shoulder means exteriorly of the housing but adjacent the outer face of the first wall, a clip member for engagement between the shoulder means and said first wall to hold the rod from movement inwardly of the housing.

4. A slider switch as recited in claim 3 wherein the said shoulder means is an extension on either side of the rod and in the plane of its movement, while the clip member is inserted between the first wall of the housing containing the slot and the said extensions, and a removable cover member attached to the housing and representing the saidsecond wall of the housing, the cover member extending beyond the edge of the first wall so that when it is fastened to the housing it holds the clip member in place.

5. A slider switch comprising a housing having a base and a removable cover member, one wall of the base hav ing an elongated slot, there being an insulated slider of thin sheet material in the base and having a rod extending from one edge thereof through the slot for manual operation to and fro, movable and fixed contacts located in the base, each contact having a wire terminal that is supported in and extends through the said cover member for making connections in an electrical circuit, the cover member ex tending perpendicularly to the said slotted wall of the base, the inner portions of the terminals bearing against one side face of the slider to guide it in its movement as it operates upon the movable contacts.

6. A slider switch as recited in claim 5 wherein the wall of the base that is opposite the cover member is provided with a projection that bears against the opposite side face of the slider to assist in guiding it in its movement.

7. A slider switch comprising a housing, an elongated slot in one wall of the housing, an insulated slider having a rod that extends outwardly through the slot to be manually operated to and fro, the edge of the slider opposite the said rod having a series of cam surfaces, and a strong torsion spring mounted in the housing with one spring arm biased against the said cam surfaces to serve as a snap acting detent means for the switch, at least one movable and one fixed contact assembled in the switch on one side of the slider, the slider in one position engaging the movable contact and in another position being free of the movable contact.

8. A slider switch as recited in claim 7 wherein the said cam surfaces are in the shape of a W with an enlarged central apex to provide an on-off two-position switch.

9. A slider switch as recited in claim 8 with the addition of a second torsion spring having an arm that bears against an edge of one of the ends of the slider and is energizable when the slider is moved against the said arm of the second torsion spring to give the slider a momentary contact action and have it return to the normally ofi" position when the manually operated rod of the switch is released.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 585,915 Johnston July 6, 1897 1,740,535 Bramming Dec. 24, 1929 1,846,513 Douglas Feb. 23, 1932 1,909,642 Watts May 16, 1933 1,986,527 Rach et a1. Jan. 1, 1935 2,023,094 Parker Dec. 3, 1935 2,209,918 Hammerly July 30, 1940 2,473,088 Bain June 14, 1949 2,686,851 Sanda Aug. 17, 1954 2,748,205 Forstrom May 29, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 827,608 Germany Jan. 10, 1952 88,958 Switzerland Apr. 16, 1921 

